Claire van Kampen
'Claire van Kampen is one of the 4 main characters of Gooische Vrouwen, and is played by Tjitske Reidinga. ' Character Profile Being one of the three women who made it through all the season, Claire van Kampen has lived in ´t Gooi for many years now. She was married to Anton van Kampen, who died in a tragic accident. She has a rather complicated relationship with her daughter, Merel. Claire is recognized for her cynical behaviour, her lust for money and her stoic and cold appearance. It has often been clear that Claire pays most attention to what amount of money men have, rather than their behaviour or their looks. In the third season, Claire doesn't mind snatching money that was meant for an orphan charity fund, which also confirms her greed. However, Claire has had a lot of financial troubles throughout the series, which might explain her actions. Next to financial problems, she has also had a lot of trouble with her family, friends and doesn't seem lucky when it comes to her lovelife. Her stroic behaviour and her reluctance to supress emotions annoyed her daughter Merel massively. In turn, Merel's rudeness didn't make it easy for Claire either. Her (potential) lovers have been, among others, Robert, Max, and Ernst. Her relationship with Ernst was complicated, since he turned out to be a deceitful person. In season 5, Claire starts a relationship with a man she meets at the Anonymous Alcoholics, played by Marcel Musters. Claire's drinking problem became very serious throughout the fourth season. Anouk tricked her into joining the AA, but Claire left angrily. In season 5, she realizes she is in trouble and she gives into it. Overview Season 1 We get to know Claire van Kampen as a very cold, rather ruthless woman, who especially despises her new neighbours, the Moreros, for being very racial and annoying. She and her husband Anton differ much from each other and don't seem to get along very well. She wants her friends, Willemijn Lodewijckx and Anouk Verschuur, to ignore the Moreros, after an accidental delivery of soil damaged her garden fence. When the Moreros give a welcome party, Claire firmly rejects their invitation. However, Anton is determined to go and gets drunk with Anouk. Anouk suggests they take a dive in the Morero's swimming pool, but, since Willemijn had the idea to turn off the lights, there is no water in the pool...Anton falls to his death on the hard bottom. When Claire sees him lying, she is shocked. At first, Claire blames the Moreros, and continues to act harsh to Cheryl, who tries to socialize. Her daughter, Merel, admits missing her dad incredibly much; at the funeral, Claire doesn't seem to be sad about her husband's death. Claire and Merel drive apart even more. After she conciles with Cheryl, her friends push her to open the bank-safe Anton left her and Merel.However, in the safe, she disgustedly finds nothing but a set of pictures showing Anton having gay sex, and a huge debt. Enraged about his adultery, she vandalizes his grave. She then hires detective Holtrop, to find the man she saw with Anton on the pictures. When she takes a gun and flies to the airport to confront (whom she believes is) her husband's lover, Merel calls Holtrop, who manages to prevent a shooting. Claire, having no money and a huge debt from her husband, explains to dr. Rossi she doesn't know what she's capable of anymore. She asks Willemijn to loan her money, despite her pride, but Willemijn principially doesn't lend out money to friends. Meanwhile, Claire desperately tries to hide the fact she's budgetshopping. Eventually, she puts her house on sale, but Cheryl offers her a cheque to help her. At a pick-up bar with Anouk, Claire meets Max, a young waiter, and they kiss all night. They start a relationship, but soon Claire chooses her old friend Robert Bovenlander, who can satisfy her financially, which Max can't. Meanwhile, Claire freaks out about Merel having a refugee boyfriend, Amir, and insists she breaks up with him. Merel refuses to. When Max explains he found a way to make loads of money, through multiple casino swindles, Claire happily returns to him and lets Robert down. A tragic accident occurs when she walks down the pool of the Morero's, and is knocked down by a baseball bat. She falls down, in the water, unconsciously... Season 2 After the attack, Claire is in a coma and things don't seem to improve. At her bed, her friends promise to take care of Merel. Willemijn badly regrets not having lend her money, and Cheryl reveals her secret of having cheated with Tom and being pregnant of him. After Claire wakes up, she can't walk, so she has to do different kinds of balance practices. She is visited by detective Holtrop, and also rejects Merel's calls. We later find out Merel was the one who knocked Claire down with a baseball bat, which Holtrop finds out. Claire doesn't want Merel to be prosecuted for it, but Holtrop says he's obliged to. Merel is put in a youth detention centre. To pay off the debts Claire still has, she tricks Willemijn into believing Merel is at a finishing school in Zutphen, and that she needs 6000 € a month to finance it. Willemijn gives her the money. Meanwhile, Claire has met a man, Ernst, in the revalidation centre, who is paralyzed and is in a wheelchair. When she finds out about his richness, she takes him in, which isn't a problem for Ernst, since he has rather romantic feelings for Claire and isn't reluctant to support her financially. When Anouk and Willemijn head off to visit Merel at the "finishing school", they find out about the youth centre, and Merel's act of violence to Claire. Willemijn is shocked about it, and even more about Claire's deception. She furiously demands the money she gave her, and expresses her doubts about whether they can still be friends. Claire starts to hate herself for what she's done, however, Ernst comforts her by giving her a cheque. They have "sex". Later on, Willemijn and Claire reconcile. Claire then finds out that Merel is released from the youth centre, and she is astonished when she sees her at her door. Not being ready for taking her in again, she drops her off at Anouk's, who promised to take care of her when Claire was in a coma. Claire breaks down and realizes she wants her daughter back, and she and Merel reconcile later on. In the finale episode, she meets Ernst at the hospital, who is starting to heal of his paralysis. Season 3 Claire is now living together with Ernst, who has recovered from his disability, though he walks with a cane. He expresses his need for sexual pleasure, but Claire doesn't think of it as a priority. However, Ernst starts taking viagra pills to satisfy his sexual feelings. Another big problem is a wall between Ernst and Merel, who hates him for his attempts to settle her future, and his dominant attitude in the house. After a lot of fights, Ernst humiliates her by saying her father (Anton) was nothing but a loser and caused her to be a messed up teenager. At this point, Claire is fed up with Ernst and furiously breaks up with him. Ernst still offers her his financial support, through a cheque, but Claire's pride makes her tear up the cheque in pieces. She regrets this after she finds out the cheque is worthless. She, once again, falls into a financial crisis. This eventually leads her to rent out the house. She herself stays in Willemijn's garden shed. Claire's greed and desperation leads her to steal the money from a charity event, sponsored by Cheryl and Martin.She doesn't know Tippi Wan witnesses her doing it... Things grow worse when she has dinner with Evert about an investement fund, which she lied about to Willemijn; who finds out about it, and considers it a romantic dinner. She throws out Claire. Claire desperately goes to Anouk, who lets her stay at her place. This turns out to nothing better, as Claire's perfectionism and dominance at the house drive Anouk crazy. She eventually ends up at the Moreros. Claire is disgusted by her new house-renter, who turns out to be a haught French singer, and a nudist. Nevertheless, Claire ends up having sex with the man. She shockingly realizes she's being blackmailed, and now knows someone saw her taking the money from the charity event. She is eventually forced to leave a large sum of money at an arranged location, which she loans from Evert. At the location, she waits to see who her blackmailer is, and finds out it has been Tippi. They get in a fight, and Tippi flies and threatens her with pictures she has of Claire stealing the charity money. Claire is left behind in the mud. Season 4 Willemijn's death caused a lot of tears in 't Gooi. Claire has a hard time dealing with the loss, but her pragmatic thinking drags her through the process. She assists Evert emotionally and swings by at the Lodewijckx' house quite often, where she takes care of the household. Her friends blame her for trying to replace Willemijn, and especially Anouk disgusts the way she's lurking at Evert. In turn, Claire is greatly annoyed by Anouk's attempts to let them get over their grief through spirituality, and Cheryl's dumb behaviour. Later on, the girls patch things up and Claire gets a grip on herself when it comes to Evert. However, she still has growing feelings for him. Now Merel has left the house, Claire starts to feel very lonely. When Evert presents his new maid, Svetlana, Claire is disgusted and is convinced the two are having a sexual relationship. At a restaurant, she finds out Ernst just paid her and her girlfriend's lunch. She is rather reluctant to this and thinks he just wants sex. On top of it all, Ernst is engaged now. After buying her a coat and having it delivered at Claire's door, Ernst' behaviour leads to Claire wanting an explanation. At his golfclub, they end up having sex instead. Claire's new doctor, Van Engelen, bluntly offers to correct her childbirth-scars 'tax-free', stating it's unsightly down there. Claire, incredibly insecure, realizes through Ernst that her doctor is just a deceitful swindler. They succeed in framing him. Ernst now moves back in with Claire, and persuades her to cooperate in a highly profitable investment fund. Claire feels reluctant to the legitiminity of it, but when she sees the money it applied, she doesn't care anymore. Though, her suspicions rise and she turns out to be right when she sees her picture in the news paper for being suspected of fraud and prescience. She is now completely discredited, thus deserted by her clients and also refuses a plea-bargain to testify against Ernst, hoping for a dirty profit share. However, in court, she sees Ernst giving his lawyer a kiss, and she immediately decides to testify against him. Now that she is single again, her loneliness takes a toll once again, and she finds comfort in alcoholism. She slowly breaks down, and her feelings for Evert are stronger than ever. After sabotaging his affair with Roelien, and even declaring her love to Ernst, Ernst rejects her and walks away. Season 5 It has been revealed that in the upcoming season, Claire's alcoholic problem will grow worse. She will join the Anonymous Alcoholists, where she meets a new lover, playes by Marcel Musters. Relationships Evert Lodewijckx Claire has always had romantic feelings for Evert, and at the time she was very lonely and Evert was fragile (because of Willemijn's death), Claire tried to be around him as much as possible. Evert, who didn't really understand her motive at first, remained reluctant and he has always seen Claire as one of his closest friends. When Claire openly expressed she loved him deeply, Evert rejected her and walked away, leaving Claire devestated. Anouk Verschuur Anouk has been Claire's second oldest friend (next to Willemijn), and their friendschip can be described as very close, though they have had a lot of fights through the series. Claire is very mundane, and firmly rejects Anouk's attempts to draw her into her spiritual life and her advices. In turn, Claire's rigidity, perfectionism and cynical behaviour often gets on Anouk's nerves. However, the two have been through much in their lifes and grow close when one of them is in trouble. Claire is also really protective of Anouk, which has been proved by the fact she warned her for taking in an African refuge. Anouk and Claire's visions on life often differ massively; Claire is way too cynical to relate to Anouk's "heal the world"-lifestyle. The two enjoy having a glass of wine, shopping or spending their day at the spa. Merel van Kampen Acquintances of Claire See Aquintances of Claire van Kampen